Most of my bricks come from sets or bought mainly to get special parts I like and want to use. Recently I found the factory and have bought some new stuff there but that inventory is limited.

I have also checked out E-bay but find that whole thing annoying. I wonder if there are other places or on-line locations where one could look, find and order individual parts and peices -- perhaps even in used condition?

Do you have any suggestions?

Any sources you use or recommend?

I prefer to buy outright than play the auction game -- just a direct and no nonsense kinda guy.

Go Bricklink. The prices are decent, depending on what you're looking for. I've had a lot of success with BL, but we don't call it "cracklink" for nothing -- there's always one more choice part you just gotta order!Permalink

Lego factory through Lego Digital Designer is also a possibility. Sometimes I find bulk lots of Lego on EBay, but this option is mainly only good for large amounts of standard, basic bricks, not specialized parts.

I prefer to buy outright than play the auction game -- just a direct and no nonsense kinda guy.

I know exactly what you mean, I hate playing the auction thing. I have asked around this very same question that you asked of many old school lego users, many of them spacers and some of them no longer in the hobby, and they all said the same --> buying sets for peices, not for the set itself, is primary. This means bucking up and walking with head held high sometimes as you buy a Belville set at your nearest store, but recently thanks to the Clone Wars, there are a lot more sets with spacey goodness. Bricklink is secondary. Problems with Bricklink are time, having to buy from multiple stores with separate orders, and the fact that many of the parts on Bricklink are no longer made and so you have ever diminishing returns (it gets harder every month to find good parts on Bricklink). Third would be Pick-a-Brick. Lego is friggin awesome for setting it up on Shop-at-Home, and they just added 500 new elements two weeks ago. Most of the parts so far are bulk kind of things, but there are the all important studs-on-the-side parts for SNOT work with your MOCs. Really, the PAB already puts the factory to shame, IMO.
As for auctions and stuff like that, its just Russian roulette as to whether you get anything worth your time and money when you are trying to build something nice. And you always get an e-bay order where someone is trying to slip in Megablocks, Cobi, or Best Lock in with the Lego or they do not know any better, and you get less Lego for your buck.
Above all, when working on s SHIP, it can be time consuming to hunt down the right parts. But then, it can also be worth it.Permalink

Well, I just use ebay for my needs. I dont like the auction deal, so i just use the buy it now option. And also, i dont buy specific parts. I buy random. I like random because its always a surprise when i get the package. Permalink

Quoting Archon Mitchell
Most of my bricks come from sets or bought mainly to get special parts I like and want to use. Recently I found the factory and have bought some new stuff there but that inventory is limited.

I have also checked out E-bay but find that whole thing annoying. I wonder if there are other places or on-line locations where one could look, find and order individual parts and peices -- perhaps even in used condition?

Do you have any suggestions?

Any sources you use or recommend?

I prefer to buy outright than play the auction game -- just a direct and no nonsense kinda guy.

A great place to get new and second-hand parts at good prices is www.bricklink.com. It's a little fiddly at first until you get used to what they call the bricks but there you can buy every brick ever made sometimes very cheaply, sometimes not so cheaply.

If you are going to use bricklink have an idea of all the parts you need as some sellers have minimu orders.Permalink

Concur strongly with the many recommendations for Bricklink.com. I've been using it for years and made dozens of orders with only an occasional problem with a missing piece here and there. i had one order from Canada that came open in the mail and the transaction was not smooth; so I only order within the US.Permalink